Vacuums: For Daycleaning, Vacuum Technology Quiets Down

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The whirr and whine of a standard vacuum is a common noise irritant, and the last sound employees want to hear in a work environment— especially while on the phone. As day cleaning becomes a key energy-saving factor in the green cleaning movement, vacuum technology has evolved to suit the needs of both the cleaning worker and the desk-bound employee. Recently, vacuum manufacturers have made breakthrough engineering advances to dramatically lower decibel levels and give cleaning workers a way to quickly reduce sound output with the simple click of a switch.

In call centers, cubicle farms, and other office areas, the noise level typically hovers between 64 and 68 decibels. Ideally, a vacuum’s decibel level should be at or below that average. Most newer commercial vacuum cleaners range between 61 and 80 decibels, but some new releases are much quieter.
 
“Designing a vacuum that offers high performance with a much lower decibel level is definitely a challenge, because if you simply place foam around the motor, it reduces the airflow and lift.” says Chris Murray, Director of Technology for ProTeam®, a vacuum manufacturer that recently developed a patent pending innovation called QuietPower® Technology.

The solution came from looking at the HVAC systems in soundproof recording studios. Air must be able to easily flow into the room, while the noise of the fans is baffled.

“These studios use something like a foam labyrinth in the air duct, and as a sound particle travels through the maze, it is reduced to almost nothing,” says Murray. “Of course, the compact shape of a backpack or canister vacuum presented us with dramatically different parameters to work with, and we went through hundreds of prototypes and different materials before we found the optimal balance.”

ProTeam uses the technology in the QuietPro® BP HEPA backpack and QuietPro® CN HEPA canister vacuums. Both machines feature a switch that allow operators to move from “power mode” to “quiet mode,” which results in a much lower decibel level and a slight reduction in performance. A third-party test show the QuietPro BP HEPA runs at 60 decibels when in power mode and 51 decibels in quiet mode. The QuietPro CN HEPA tests even quieter, with a decibel level of 55 in power mode and 47 in quiet mode. The canister features an eight to nine inch HEPA filter that further serves to baffle noise, though its primary purpose is to collect microscopic pollutants.

“At ISSA, I tested the technology by wearing the unit and switching it to power mode,” says Murray. “People would come up, ask what was new, and I’d show them the vacuum. They’d ask me to turn it on. When I told them, ‘It is on,’ and hold the wand out to them so they could feel the suction, they were shocked. You couldn’t even hear it.”

ProTeam also developed another technological development, the GoCartVac, a cordless vacuum on a portable platform that can run on battery reserves for over an hour, or that can be plugged in, and run continuously on AC power while the battery charges.